A Legacy of Tolerance and Love

When one of Dr. Charles Levenback‘s grateful patients learned about his upcoming retirement from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, she honored him with a monetary gift to support a cause that would resonate with both of them. After much discussion, Charles, his wife Virginia (Ginny) and his grateful patient chose Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH) as the recipient of their mutual gifts to create the Levenback Family Endowment Fund, which is a quasi-endowment that will generate income to support changing exhibitions, archival preservation and social justice educational activities.

Ginny and Charles have a long relationship with the Museum. Charles’ mother, Hedwig (Hedi) Basch Levenback was 14 years old when she was one of 10,000 Jewish children evacuated from Germany and Austria to England on the Kindertransport. Hedi, along with her two aunts, Johanna (Joan) Bielitz Toggitt and Lily Steiner Bielitz, survived the war and settled in New York City. Hedi was reunited with an American GI she had met in England by a chance encounter in the subway in 1946. She married Robert Levenback in 1950. Robert served 40 years in the New York Police Department, retiring as a captain. Hedi became an early childhood educator in New York City, earning her second master’s in her 60s from the Yeshiva School of Social Work in New York City.

Charles, Ginny and his sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Aby Shamir inherited the family legacy, including documents, furniture, art and photographs when Hedi died in 2000. Prior to her death, Hedi recorded a video testimony at HMH. The documents included birth, death and marriage certificates over 100 years old, Lily’s husband’s military service records from World War I, as well as property and business records. Also, Joan’s preserved documentation of her life in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. Finally, the documentation of the Nazification of the family assets was meticulously documented and especially fragile. After researching many options, they chose HMH to make their donation. This donation became the core of the Uprooted exhibit in 2013. Charles and Ginny also sponsored memory tiles in the Chapel and Heart in a Suitcase, a play for middle school-aged children set in Berlin in 1938 in 2018.

As their careers in medicine and law respectively came to a close, and their children, Sam and Ben, established their independence, Charles and Ginny thought more about philanthropy. The concept of tikkun olam, improving the world, resonates strongly with them. They were looking for a single organization to have an ongoing relationship with that shared their values and commitment. They like the Museum’s modern-day mission, preserving the legacy of the Holocaust and using those lessons learned to address a variety of modern social justice issues. They also appreciate HMH’s relevant exhibitions, enriching educational programs, its outreach to middle school children and the Museum’s call to action in the Houston community and beyond.

Charles and Ginny Levenback are passionate about family and social justice. Both are fully committed to their decision to entrust HMH with their family legacy and have boldly made a further commitment to the Museum. With the support of the Levenback Family Endowment Fund, Holocaust Museum Houston will be able to continue offering first-rate traveling exhibitions that will resonate with Houston’s diverse community.

When you visit Holocaust Museum Houston’s current exhibition, Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory., you will be introduced to Hedi Levenback’s story, which is featured in the HMH-curated accompanying exhibition, Stories of Hope. Look closely at the two objects that Charles shares with viewers in his interview with Chief Curator Carol Manley about Hedi—you will recognize her Kindertransport ticket and her German-English dictionary from this story. And you, too, will carry a piece of the Levenback family legacy. Holocaust Museum Houston is grateful to Charles and Ginny Levenback for entrusting their treasures.

You too can preserve the legacy of the Holocaust and support social justice through a gift in your estate plan. Contact Colton Larsen at clarsen@hmh.org or 713-527-1612 to learn more.